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Posts Tagged ‘LIRS’

In November of last year, information came to us from a confidential source about Chobani Yogurt CEO Hamdi Ulukaya’s personal foundation, The Tent Foundation, contracting with Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service(one of nine federally funded resettlement agencies) to produce a guide for businesses to help them find refugee labor.

Here is just a bit of the background I gave about LIRS contract with Tent in a postalmost a year ago:

For new readers, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service(LIRS) is one of nine federal contractors*** hired and funded (on a per refugee-head basis) by the US State Department and the Office of Refugee Resettlement in HHS to place refugees in towns where citizens have no say in the matter and are generally kept in the dark about the process and plans for their communities.

In light of all the internal turmoil going on at LIRS over the last year, I had wondered if TheTent Foundation ever got its guide.

But, sure enough, here it is!

It is a useful guide for not only businesses looking for refugee labor, but serious students of the US Refugee Admissions Program will find it full of information that could come in handy.

Although, Tent works in Europe, the guide is entirely devoted to finding and hiring refugee workers in the US.

I especially found useful the ‘Where to find refugees’table that begins on page 17.

Below is just a small portion of the table that goes on for two additional full pages.

See which cities are the top ‘welcoming’ cities in America from 2007 to 2016 (mostly Obama years):

There are a total of 136 locations on the list. Apparently towns and cities receiving less than 100 are not included. https://www.tent.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Tent_Guidebook_FINAL.pdf

In addition to less tangible benefits like feel-good bragging rights (corporate virtue signalling!) there are some economic reasons (besides wage issues) to bank an economic gain from hiring refugees.

Here is one! A tax break!

Remember I mentioned that there was a tax break for businesses being touted as a way to encourage companies to hire people on welfare (here yesterday). I see that on page 14, here at the Tent/LIRS hiring guide, the break is further explained.

Readers may not know that although most legal immigrants to America are not permitted to tap into welfare for several years, refugees are exempt from that prohibition and are able to almost immediately, with the help and guidance of their federally-assigned resettlement contractor (ie LIRS), sign up for myriad social service programs.

Faithful readers are probably sick of seeing this list almost every day, but a friend once told me that people need to see something seven times before it completely sinks in, so it seems to me that 70, or even 700 isn’t too much!

And, besides I have new readers every day.

The present US Refugee Admissions Program will never be reformed if the system of paying the contractors by the head stays in place and the contractors are permitted to act as Leftwing political agitation groups, community organizers and lobbyists largely paid on our dime!

And, to add insult to injury they pretend it is all about ‘humanitarianism.’

The number in parenthesis is the percentage of their income paid by you (the taxpayer) to place the refugees into your towns and cities and get them signed up for their services (aka welfare)! And, get them registered to vote eventually!

In most cases (LIRS for instance!), the percentage of their income paid by taxpayers is so high one could hardly call them private groups any longer. They are virtually quasi-government agencies.

They cite their “collective scriptural mandate” as the reason for their demands that you, the American taxpayer, pay for their ‘religious’ charity.

Honestly, this is probably one of the most maddening aspects of this subject—-why on earth do they think the Bible says that government must take care of the poor?

Why can’t these “faith” leaders find ways to take care of the impoverished in the world (starting in their own towns!) using their own money!

(Or they can volunteer to help the third world in the third world!)

Your new neighbors? I had to laugh about the photo the Christian Post uses to illustrate this news. Do these ‘refugees’ in Greece make you want to invite them home? Where is the photo of mothers and babies? And, why is one guy laughing? Maybe because they fooled these Europeans!

Do we need more low wage labor?

That should be the debate. Anything else is just mud being thrown around to confuse the taxpaying public and make people feel guilty about questioning our LEGAL immigration programs.

For instance, this storyat something called ‘Workforce’posits that refugees’ greatest contributions are that their hiring brings much-needed diversity to the work place—WTH!

Diversity! Like the diversity Muslim refugees bring when they file lawsuits against meatpackers for special prayer privileges in slaughter plants?

And, just forget the notion that the US Refugee Admissions Program is a solely humanitarian effort on the part of the US—it is about the movement of labor around the world (and about Democrat voters), but not first about welcoming the stranger!

Let me repeat! If America needs cheap (compliant immigrant) labor, have that debate and leave the diversity/humanitarian mumbo-jumbo out of it!

As immigration issues swirl around businesses seeking to hire foreign talent, a new guide published by the Tent Foundation is still touting the benefits of hiring refugees.

Hamdi Ulukaya the CEO of Chobani Yogurt, here with George Soros discussing refugees, founded the Tent Foundation.

The “U.S. Employers’ Guide to Hiring Refugees”highlights the positive aspects businesses reap when hiring refugees. Diversity tops the list of what refugees bring to the workplace, according to Gideon Maltz, executive director of Tent Foundation, a nonprofit organization that works with businesses to help them integrate refugee workers into their workplace. Whether it’s experience or language, refugees can provide new insights from their respective countries.

“A more diverse workforce fosters new ideas and innovations, which is necessary in our more competitive, global market,” Maltz said.

Finding those refugee workers poses a challenge, based on recent statistics.

[….]

Based on the Tent Foundation guide, a refugee is “an individual who is unable to return to his or her home country due to a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or social group.”

Employers have options beyond refugees if they want to diversify their workforce with foreign workers. Immigrants on an H-1B visa, which allows U.S. companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations, also bring with them their foreign experiences and knowledge. [I’ve skipped most of the discussion about other legal immigration programs to bring in foreign workers. The reporter seems to be mixing them up with the refugee program anyway. Most refugees don’t come in with special skills.—ed]

[….]

Burke [Richard Burke, CEO of Envoy Global, an enterprise platform that works with companies to make the hiring and managing process of a global workforce easier] reasoned that businesses could be putting more of an effort into introducing more immigrants because they see the benefit diversity brings to a company’s culture.

“To address the supply and demand imbalance employers are saying, ‘We have opportunities, we want to grow, we want to contribute to the economy,’ ” said Burke.

“But to do that we need the talent and the workers to do it. And the only way to do it is through foreign national talent.”

[….]

Envoy Global’s “2018 Immigration Trends Report” looks at opinions of employers on immigration and their hiring process. Based on the report, businesses that would like to implement this strategy are finding it difficult to do so in the face of the tougher immigration standards.

“Eighty-five percent of respondents say the U.S immigration program policies have impacted their ability to hire,” said Burke.

Contact the refugee contractors!

It was the recently ousted Lutheran CEO Hartke who signed the deal with the Tent Foundation to write their hiring guide.

We already know from past reporting that some of the usual gang of nine refugee contractors***are working with global meat companies to help them find and retain cheap (compliant because they can’t go home!) refugee labor.

For potential employers that want to hire refugees, Maltz advises them to reach out to their local resettlement agency since those organizations can help with logistical details. Managers should also prepare to spend extra money on English as second language courses and other programs to help new workers acclimate to their new home.

“[It] may require some upfront investments but these are small in relation to the benefits refugees will bring to your company,” Maltz said.

Yup! They mention the “higher retention rates” of refugee laborers. Of course, because again, they can’t go home and are dependent on their handlers at the refugee contracting agencies for their other needs.

So cut the crap, stop throwing the mud around, and have the debate about US labor shortages (does it exist and what is the best way to deal with it, if it is even true)!

***Here are the nine federal refugee contractors. They have been complaining as their regular paying client numbers (refugees) have declined during the Trump Administration. They pretend their sole mission is humanitarian, but they work closely and receive funding from big global corporations in addition to their generous contributions from you—the taxpayer!

The original Refugee Act of 1980, that set up this monstrosity, envisioned a public-private partnership that over the years has almost completely morphed in to a federal program. Congress must reform the program and get these supposedly non-profit middlemen out of the process.

The number in parenthesis is the percentage of their income paid by you (the taxpayer) to place the refugees, line them up with jobs, and get them signed up for their services (aka welfare)! From most recent accounting, here.

They want to blame it all of course on Donald Trump (and Stephen Miller!), but the refugee slowdown has exposed the weakness of a scheme set up in 1979-1980 by then Senator Ted Kennedy (with Joe Biden) and Jimmy Carter.

The architects….

The whole program was sold as a public-private partnership implying that there would be an equal sharing of finances and responsibility, but over the years the public share (your tax ‘contributions’) has grown while the private share has withered.

So that now, with the per refugee head payment dropping as fewer refugee are admitted, the program is being exposed for what it has become….

It is a monopolistic conglomeration of supposed ‘religious’ and ‘humanitarian’ charities living almost exclusively on the federal dole. Their budgets are fully dependent on the next shipment of paying clients (aka refugees).

Come on Congress! It is time to dump it or fix it.

I notice that with all the talk about reforming LEGAL immigration there is no talk of reforming the obviously seriously flawed USRAP!

The program is “under siege” say the refugee agencies and their media lackeys!

Rarely do I post twice on one story, but I told you about this one yesterday (here) and it is full of revealing information. I see it is a ‘Religion News Service’ story that appears herein the National Catholic Reporter showcasing (again) that anti-Trump rally last month at the White House.

Do they really think the average American taxpayer will be moved by a photo of Muslims praying against the President as a publicity stunt?

The big banner on the right is the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society protest march banner. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2018/01/28/church-world-service-and-hias-join-cair-to-protest-at-white-house/

Boo hoo! We Catholics are running out of your money!

USCCB [US Conference of Catholic Bishops—ed] officials said they are still deciding how to move forward but already expect to close about 15 sites this year, shifting from 75 to as few as 60. Catholic Charities, the primary affiliate for the USCCB’s on-the-ground resettlement work, said that of the 700 full-time employees across its network who work on refugee resettlement, more than 300 are estimated to see a temporary layoff, permanent layoff or possible reassignment due to the refugee ban.

An April 2017 report from the Episcopal News Service said the Episcopal Church would cut its 31-member affiliate network by six in 2018.

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service said it had not closed any sites, though before she resigned earlier this week as its president and CEO, Linda Hartke confirmed the agency has made staff reductions at its headquarters. [This is especially funny because we know that many staff at headquarters quit due toHartke’s poor management!—Now it is all Donald’s fault!—How convenient!—ed]

Maybe if the top dogs took pay cuts, and raised PRIVATE money, the lower level staff could be retained?

Local organizations appear to bear the brunt of the cuts. [Sure they do, no one really expects the CEO’s to take pay cuts.—ed]Paula Torisk, deputy director of refugee resettlement for Catholic Charities San Antonio, which works with the USCCB’s program, said her office has laid off at least 23 people because of the various bans — around 30 percent to 35 percent of her staff.

Lower level staff are unemployed because the whole refugee program is built (wrongly) as a Ponzi scheme. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2018/02/16/trump-administration-wrongly-blamed-for-closure-of-refugee-offices/

She said many of those who lost their jobs are, like Giri [refugee star of the story—ed], themselves refugees or former refugees who have since become U.S. citizens. Her office previously relied on their cultural knowledge and language skills but has been forced to hire translators in their absence.

“You’ve got staff taking on cases where they don’t speak the language,” said Torisk, who has worked with refugees since 1996. “I’ve heard other resettlement programs say, ‘How can we pay for [interpreters] if our funding is cut?’”

She also said that due to uncertainty surrounding the program, funding for the longer-term refugee assistance — such as providing English classes — is now doled out on a quarterly basis instead of annually throughout Texas.

The whole 1980 system is based on an ever-expanding refugee flow to America and over the ensuing decades the contractors (below) got fat and lazy because federal money flowed like a river to them and they built fiefdoms with it!

I repeat: Where is Congress?

The nine refugee contractors “fighting for their survival”….

The number in parenthesis is the percentage of their income paid by you (the taxpayer) to place the refugees and get them signed up for their services (aka welfare)! From most recent accounting, here.

Hamdi Ulukaya, the founder of Chobani Yogurt (we mentioned their expansion in Twin Falls, Idaho, here recently), created a personal foundation launched at Davos (Switzerland) in 2016 he called The Tent Foundation.

I’m using this photo because I’m intrigued by the fact that last night on two different Fox News programs focusing on Clinton’s past indiscretions, they used a clip from this event with Ulukaya. Why? Sending some sort of message to viewers? Or, just coincidence because it was a quick and easy video to find? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgjqzO63XfM

To learn more about Ulukaya’s pitch to global corporations seehis 2016 opinion piecepublished at CNN Money (watch the video!) where he says he has hired 600 refugees for his yogurt plants in New York and Idaho and that he has pledged to give half of his $1.4 billion personal wealth to refugee causes.

Now comes news that The Tent Foundation has hired Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service to pen a guide for their “member” companies (affiliated with Tent) to answer questions corporations have about hiring refugee labor.

Let me be clear:

We applaud global corporations (like those below) and uber-wealthy CEOs that send millions of their own dollars to care for refugees living in camps and in other difficult situations around the world.

However, when they rely on the federal taxpayer, through the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program, to deliver their potential workers to the US (to compete with Americans for jobs), it becomes our business.

For new readers, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service(LIRS) is one of nine federal contractors*** hired and funded (on a per refugee-head basis) by the US State Department and the Office of Refugee Resettlement in HHS to place refugees in towns where citizens have no say in the matter and are generally kept in the dark about the process and plans for their communities.

For those who are not aware of the background on this project, the focus is the development of a 15 page resource toolkit for employers laying out why they should hire refugees, what are the legal and cultural issues to consider, how to go about it, and where to get help. The Tent Foundation is the foundation of the founder of Chobani yogurt who is himself a refugee and employs many refugees. They have many large corporate “members” related to the foundation, and their members have been hungry for such a resource.

While current LIRS staff will manage this project, the heavy lift of the research and writing will be done by a contractor as described below.

There is no formal contract or paperwork on the grant yet – but there is email communication confirming agreement on terms. We have asked them to proceed this week to finalize the necessary paperwork and begin the process to transfer funds. We did not provide a budget, but rather a fixed amount to produce the toolkit.

Congrats all, on this new funder for LIRS!Linda—Linda HartkePresident and CEO | LHartke@lirs.org | 410-230-2762

Here (and below) are those companies and NGOs affiliated with Ulukaya’s foundation which wikipedia refers to as his “personal foundation.” You will surely recognize many global corporations on the list! Don’t miss Soros Fund Management!

And, here are the non-profit’s working with The Tent Foundation including our old pals at ‘Welcoming America.‘

Click here for our complete archive on the community organizers at Welcoming America.

*** These are the nine federal resettlement contractors paid largely with your tax dollars to place refugees in hundreds of locations around the US.

We reported here that we had heard rumblings, but Breitbart News yesterday has all the gory details from a reliable source close to the organization—Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service—headquartered in Baltimore, MD.

LIRS CEO Linda Hartke (left) with ELCA Bishop Eaton lobbying on the Hill for more refugees (aka paying clients) in March of this year.

My questions include:

~Will Trump’s federal government suspend LIRS (96% funded by taxpayer dollars) until the truth is learned?

~Will Congress have the energy and the guts to take a look at this?

~And, could this be the tip of the iceberg—is LIRS a one-off or could others of the nine federal contractors have gotten loosey-goosey with their finances too?

After all when you are ‘doing good’ who would have the audacity to question how you handle free federal money, right?

~And, here is another: If proven true, what impact do these allegations have on LIRS subcontractors (aka affiliates)?

Just to remind longtime readers and for new readers arriving here today, there are nine organizations (supposedly non-profits)*** almost completely funded with US taxpayer dollars which distribute federal money to hundreds of subcontractors working in towns and cities across America where refugees are being placed.

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is the parent organization to the offices listed below. So whatever happens in Baltimore could have a direct impact on these local “affiliates.”

For example, LSS-MN does not act independently of the Baltimore ‘mothership’ when it comes to resettling refugees. It is the Baltimore office that sends them cases and the money that comes along with the refugees. Federal taxpayer dollars simply flow through LIRS headquarters to these subcontractors. (At the heart of the allegations about federal grant funds is the issue of how much headquarters keeps of the millions of dollars it passes through.)

LIRS affiliates could see an impact if the allegations of financial wrong doing are significant enough for the federal agency (HHS in this case) to issue a ‘stop work order.’

When you read Breitbart’s investigative pieceyou might not have much concern for the internal personnel machinations/squabbles/bullying/firings/ etc, but like me, you might find anything that suggests the misuse of your tax dollars compelling. Pistachio nuts! (you will have to read Leahy’s piece to see what that means!)

Here is one bit of the detailed report from a source to Breitbart (source refers to LIRS as LIaRS):

Over the six year period from 2011 through 2016, LIaRS revenue from the U.S. government grew from $30 million to almost $65 million. During that time, under CEO Hartke’s oversight, the headquarter’s spending exploded from $8.8 million to $13.5 million with a staff of less than 100. Hartke’s salary also jumped from $182,270 to more than $293,000 last year (note this does not include her 9 percemt employer retirement plan contribution, 100% employer paid health care, and paid time off).

Given that USG revenue accounts for almost 95 cents of every LIaRS dollar, the only way Hartke could continue to spend on herself and the headquarters is through charging the USG an indirect cost recovery rate on the entire amount of their grants, even though 90 percent of the funds were simply passed through to subawards to the dozens of independent affiliates that actually do the refugee resettlement work (i.e. Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains, RefugeeOne of Chicago, Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees, etc.).

This is direct contradiction to the Code of Federal Regulations which only allows the ICR to be charged on the first $25,000 of each subaward. LIaRS charges it on all the money, thereby giving them millions of dollars per year to fund their headquarters for doing nothing. As an example, in 2016 of the $54 million in government funds received by LIaRS, more than $55 million was sent out in subawards to the independent affiliates to do the actual resettlement work … but LIaRS managed to charge the government the ICR rate of over 10 percent on that $55 million which brings over $5 million to be kept in Baltimore for Hartke and her office.

If I may be so bold as to tell the Inspector General at Health and Human Services what to do….

….it would be prudent for the IG to issue a Stop Work Order.

If the allegations of inflating direct costs are true and the commensurate lack of internal controls are found, LIRS financial practices raise serious questions about their ability to function as a federal resettlement agency (receiving millions of dollars appropriated by Congress!) at least until this mess is cleared up.

After reading theBreitbart expose’ you know that LIRS Board of Directors has launched an internal investigation in addition to whatever the federal government is doing.

See the Board members here and below. If you are of the Lutheran faith you need to have a word with anyone of them you know plus speak up to your local pastors!

From LIRS website:

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service’s board of directors sets the organization’s mission goals and ensures that we have the resources, leadership and oversight necessary to carry them out. Our president and leadership team guides the day-to-day operations of the organization as we work toward achieving our mission goals with integrity, courage and fiscal responsibility.

Board Members
The board is composed of 15 members who have knowledge of and commitment to refugees and immigrants. LIRS believes strength is found in diversity and that refugees and immigrants need a voice at the table of influence. All branches of the Lutheran Church as well as other denominations are represented on the board. There are also three former refugees or first generation immigrants on the board. The LIRS president is an ex-officio member of the board.

***These are the nine federal contractors receiving millions of tax payer dollars annually. Could any of the others not be following federal grant reporting rules? Come on Congress, time to get serious about reviewing the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program and how the contractors are spending our money!

This is yet another reason that Congress should review the entire US Refugee Program with an eye to trashing it or at least reforming it.

How is it that the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement is in the business of housing illegal alien minors (so-called unaccompanied children) in the first place, let alone be in the position of facilitating abortions when the kids get pregnant?

They are not refugees!

Obama’s Director of ORR, Bob Carey, told Politico that he signed off on the use of federal funds for abortions three or four times a month during his tenure. Pictured here with Linda Hartke, CEO of the Lutheran resettlement agency which receives federal funding for unaccompanied minors.

Here is the story at Politicowhich I haven’t the time or energy to extensively analyze and comment on.

The gist of it is that the present ORR Director is saying the feds are not going to facilitate abortions for ‘minors’ in their care while the previous Obama Director (Bob Carey) did.

Of course all those interviewed for the story are lined up against Trump’s appointee.

AUSTIN, Texas — The Trump administration is preventing an undocumented, pregnant teenager detained in a Brownsville refugee shelter from getting an abortion in a policy shift with big implications for hundreds of other pregnant, unaccompanied minors held in such shelters.

She is not the first to be stopped, according to advocates who work with undocumented teenagers.

For the last seven months, the Health and Human Services Department has intervened to prevent abortions sought by girls at federally funded shelters,even in cases of rape and incest and when the teen had a way to pay for the procedure. The agency has instead forced minors to visit crisis pregnancy centers, religiously affiliated groups that counsel women against having abortions, according to documents obtained by POLITICO, interviews with sources involved in the Brownsville case and those familiar with the agency’s policy.

In some cases, a senior HHS official has personally visited or called pregnant teens to try to talk them out of ending their pregnancies.

“There is a pattern of unconstitutional overreach of power in a minor’s abortion decision,” said the teen’s lawyer, Brigitte Amiri of the ACLU.

The ACLU brought suit on Friday on behalf of the 17-year-old in the Brownsville shelter….

[….]

“What’s especially disturbing for us about this case, is that the child is in the custody of ORR [the Office of Refugee Resettlement], so she has no other choice, and she is stuck in a form of custody or detention,” said Michelle Brane of the Women’s Refugee Commission.

The “child” in question arrived illegally across our border, we expect her (all of them!) to be held in custody! But, that custody needs to be under a different federal agency—not one whose mission is supposed to be to care for refugees, not to care for illegal aliens!

By the way, you need to know that at least two federal contractors—the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service—receive money from you to take care of some of the ‘children.’ The UACs cost the US taxpayer at least $1 billion a year.

“When you take out the underpinning that is the federal government support . . . the program is hamstrung.”

It has been like pulling teeth over the years to get the contractors*** to admit that they are largely funded out of the federal, and sometimes state treasuries. We should thank Donald Trump’s slowdown for forcing them to admit this. (They have had years slower than 50,000, but this year they can blame it on Trump!)

As refugee arrivals dwindle, resettlement agencies face cuts

Here are a few snips from further down in the piece:

The organizations receive an initial sum of $950 per refugee from the federal government to support operations, plus grants to finance specific services. [Actually some contractors keep more than $950. But rarely will you see mention of the additional grants!–ed]

Angela Bovill of Ascentria (formerly Lutheran Social Services New England). Don’t ask me why some LSS branches have changed their names, dumping the word Lutheran, in recent years.

Directors across the state said that this funding is critical to sustaining their programs.

“Private support does not make up for federal support,” said Angela Bovill, Ascentria Care Alliance’s chief executive. “When you take out the underpinning that is the federal government support . . . the program is hamstrung.”

With private dollars unable to fill budget holes, some directors have been left with no choice but to lay off staff, they said.

Government funds make up three-fourths of the International Institute of New England’s $1.27 million resettlement budget, and CEO Jeffrey Thielman said he has cut at least four full-time positions to offset a 21 percent reduction in funding.

Ascentria, which receives all of its core resettlement budget from the government, eliminated 17 positions in Massachusetts after a $611,000 shortfall.

The International Institute of New England is an USCRI subcontractor and Ascentria is a Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services sub office.

In 2013, Ms. Bovill made the astounding admission that refugee resettlement is a business! See here.

Hey, at least she is honest!—a federally-funded business (whatever that is!).

Did you know that I have an entire category called “Taxpayer goodies?” I just checked and see this will be post number 1,488 in the category!

***Federal contractors/middlemen/lobbyists/community organizerspaid by you to place refugees in your towns and cities.

Because their income is largely dependent on taxpayer dollars based on the number of refugees admitted to the US, the only way for real reform of how the US admits refugees is to remove the contractors from the process. I have ideas on how to do that, but no one in Congress every asks!

LOL! No of course they didn’t say it that way, but that is what they mean. Instead, once again, it is about the poor refugees left in the lurch in some third world hell hole because of that meany Donald J. Trump.

This is a broken record alert, but I plan to continue to pound the issue of payment to contractors being tied to the number of refugees admitted, so there is never a reasonable discussion about any slowdown or reform of the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program.

If they were paying for their Christian ‘charity’ out of the pockets of good and kind-hearted parishioners, I would have nothing to say. But, until the USCCB admits to the media that they receive 97% of their annual migration fund budget (about $83 million in 2014) from taxpayers, I will be a broken record on the issue.

It was only six days ago I did a new accounting report for the nine federal refugee contractors*** quasi-government agencies that monopolize all resettlement in the US.

Both the Bishops and the Lutheran contractor are 96-97% funded by US taxpayers!

You will never know that by reading this news. Indeed, Charity Navigator, a service that rates charities to help you decide if you want to give, said this about LIRS (they would have said the same about the USCCB except that outfit doesn’t file a Form 990, that we can find).

This organization is not eligible to be rated by Charity Navigator because, as a service for individual givers, we only rate organizations that depend on support from individual contributors and foundations. Organizations such as this, that get most of their revenue from the government or from program services, are therefore not eligible to be rated.

In this story from Crux(a Catholic publication) we learn that Catholics and Lutherans are #1 and #2 in the number of refugees they drop off in American towns and cities.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Amid a federal judge ordering the government to broaden the exemptions to the immigration travel ban partially upheld by the Supreme Court, Catholic and Lutheran leaders lamented that the immigration cap had been reached for refugees without such exemptions for the 2017 fiscal year.

The federal government suspended travel July 12 for refugee immigrants without close family connections after confirming that 50,000 refugees – the limit imposed by President Donald Trump in a March 6 executive order – had arrived on U.S. soil.

“We remain deeply troubled by the human consequences of the revised executive order on refugee admissions and the travel ban,” said Bishop Joe S. Vasquez of Austin, Texas, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration, in a July 13 statement.

“Resettling only 50,000 refugees a year, down from 110,000, does not reflect the need, our compassion, and our capacity as a nation,” Vasquez added. “We have the ability to continue to assist the most vulnerable among us without sacrificing our values as Americans or the safety and security of our nation.” [Be sure to see my post on the ceilings going back 30 years, here. Note that Obama got no where near 110,000 until he was virtually walking out the door, now that has become the standard measure!—ed]

“The pause on resettlement and restrictions on the number of persons who can enter our country as refugees will have an immediate effect on our ability to conduct the lifesaving work of providing safety and protection,” said a July 12 statement by Kay Bellor, vice president for programs of Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Service, which is second only to the U.S. bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services in the number of refugees it helps resettle in the United States. [Yes, it will have an immediate effect because your organization raised virtually NO PRIVATE MONEY!—ed]

Pushing for 75,000 refugees in FY18!

At least they have tempered the demand for 200,000 they made of Obama for his last year. If Trump admits 75,000 he will be about 10,000 above the average admissions for the last ten years(which included their dear leader’s years).

Crux continues….

“What we’re advocating for is 75,000” refugees to come into the United States during fiscal 2018, Canny told CNS.“We understand that the administration has security concerns. The administration made some initiative to reduce the number of refugees coming into the country. We don’t agree with it, so at a minimum, we think we should be bringing in 75,000.”

Bellor agreed with the 75,000 figure, noting the number is “less than the need.” Citing United Nations World Refugee Day figures, “the numbers are definitely not shrinking,” she said. “The number of people on the move is 66 million.”

LOL! 75,000 must be the point where they can keep their budgets plenty full with your money!

Come on all of you (not just the Lutherans and the Catholics), admit that your ‘charitable’ work with refugees could not happen without a huge infusion of more than a half a billion $ a year in federal funding.

And, come on mainstream media, it is time you told the truth!

***Federal contractors/middlemen/lobbyists/community organizerspaid by you to place refugees in your towns and cities. Because their income is largely dependent on taxpayer dollars based on the number of refugees admitted to the US, the only way for real reform of how the US admits refugees is to remove the contractors from the process.

Ho hum! One more story about a federal resettlement subcontractor having to fire staff because this entire UN/US Refugee Admissions Program was so ill-conceived in the first place and because these supposed ‘religious’ charities became fat and happy on taxpayer dollars rather than raising private money for their “good works.”

BTW, did you see the news about a town hall somewhere being opened with prayer and the Libs in the audience started shouting: “separation of church and state!” Well, where are they with the resettlement contractors? Where is the ACLU and its lawsuits claiming there should be a separation of church and state?

I digress, here is the news from South Carolina:

Refugee resettlement agency Lutheran Services Carolinas expects to layoff and reassign staff in the wake of President Donald Trump’s controversial executive order dramatically reducing the number of refugees who can enter the United States.

Federal courts have halted Trump’s order suspending the U.S. refugee admissions program. But the courts did not touch a provision of the order that slashed the cap on refugees from 110,000 to 50,000 this fiscal year. As of January 31, just under 40,000 refugees have been admitted to the U.S., including 28 in Charleston. [For the umpteenth time, there was no slashing in half! That 110,000 (ceiling!) was Obama’s last wish, nothing more! Average has been around 65,000 since 9/11.—ed]

Agencies such as Lutheran Services Carolinas, which resettles refugees in Charleston, Columbia and Raleigh, rely on federal money tied to each refugee they help resettle.

Yes! As I have been saying, it’s a kind of ponzi scheme built on ever-increasing numbers of refugees (paying clients!) being admitted to the US.

Lutheran Services Carolinas is an affiliate of Baltimore-based Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, one of nine national organizations*** working on behalf of the federal government to help resettle refugees. Linda Hartke, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, estimates between 70 and 80 positions so far have been cut at partner agencies across the country.

“We and all of the resettlement networks are looking at reductions of staff,” Hartke said. “There’s not funding to pay for staff if refugees aren’t arriving. There’s some work that needs to be continued, but if the arrivals are dropping by more than 50 percent, it’s not good stewardship of resources to try to maintain staff infrastructure.”

This (below) is a page from the most recent Form 990 that I could find. Do you see that the federally-funded portion of their total revenue that year ($59,862,898) included $55,341,275 in federal grants and that loan servicing fee ($1,817,755) is likely the travel loan collection fee they receive from collecting money from refugees for their airfare (that was all your money too).

Will any of the bigwigs in Baltimore see a pay cut or is Ms. Hartke preserving their resources at the top?

Is that good stewardship? I find it uncomfortable to report people’s salaries, and if this was a real non-profit group or a private business instead of a quasi-government agency, it would be none of our business what they pay their staff.

However, it isn’t a real non-profit group and since we pay the vast majority of their salaries, you should know what you pay them.

For comparison, go here to see what members of Congress make ($174,000 on average). Speaker of the House Paul Ryan makes less ($223,500) than Ms. Hartke! (You are paying for both of them!)